wrong to no one. Honest he was in all his dealings with the world;
honest even to the division of a penny. The radical fault of his
character was coldness and intolerance. Toward wrong-doing and
wrong-doers, he had no forbearance whatever; and to him that strayed
from the right path, whether child or man, he meted out, if in his
power, the full measure of consequences. Unfortunately for those who
came within the circle of his authority, his ideas of right and
wrong were based on warped and narrow views, the result of a
defective religious education. He, therefore, often called things
wrong, from prejudice, that were not wrong in themselves; and
sternly reacted upon others, and drove them away from him, when he
might have led and guided them into the paths of virtue.

The first year of Andrew Howland's married life was one of deep
trial to the loving young creature he had taken from her sunny home
to cherish in his bosom--a bosom too cold to warm into vigorous life
new shoots of affection. And yet he loved his wife; loved her
wisely, as he thought, not weakly, nor blindly. He saw her faults,
and, true to his character, laid his hands upon them. Alas! how much
of good was crushed in the rigid pressure!

To Mr. Howland life was indeed a stern reality. Duties and
responsibilities were ever in his thoughts. Pleasure was but another
name for sin, and a weakness of character an evil not to be
tolerated.

Enough, for our present purpose, can be seen of the character of
Andrew Howland in this brief outline. As our story advances, it will
appear in minuter shades, and more varied aspects. Seven years from
the day of his marriage we will introduce him to the reader.